Many criticized manager before Tigers clicked when it counted behind exceptional starters

DETROIT — It's hard to believe now that Jim Leyland's job supposedly was on the line when the Tigers scuffled behind the White Sox and Indians in the American League Central.

Leyland, who turns 68 in December, is managing on a one-year deal, just as his friend Tony La Russa did last year for the Cardinals when he bowed out with a World Series championship. As happens with anyone who has been around baseball as long as Leyland, whispers circulated that the game had passed him by when the Tigers underachieved this summer.

"We don't pay attention to that," ace Justin Verlander said during Thursday's on field celebration after the Tigers swept the Yankees in the American League Championship Series. "You hear all the chatter, but we're a tight-knit family. We were trying to keep things in our clubhouse and have faith in one another. And we were able to do that this year."

Now Leyland has the Tigers going to the World Series, where they will play either the Cardinals or Giants in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

Tigers President Dave Dombrowski said after the ALCS clinching victory that Leyland knows "he's welcome back."

Leyland refuses to discuss his status, worried that it could become a distraction.

But ask any of his players and they'll tell you the reason the Tigers were able to bounce back in the Central and return to the World Series for the first time since 2006 is the steady hand of their manager.

"He has been around the game so long, he knows how to put guys in spots where they can succeed," Verlander said. "That's a big part of it, especially when you have some young guys — Quintin Berry, Avisail Garcia and even Phil Coke — putting those guys in situations where they're going to come out on top."

But obviously, Verlander and the other three postseason starters, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez and Doug Fister, were the biggest reason for their surge in September and October. The Tigers' rotation posted an 0.66 earned-run average against the Yankees, allowing two runs on 14 hits over 271/3 combined innings.

It was the second lowest mark for any rotation in a best-of-seven series behind the Orioles' 0.61 ERA against the Dodgers in their 1966 World Series sweep. In that series, the Dodgers went 33 consecutive scoreless innings without scoring, and the Orioles used only four pitchers — Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and reliever Moe Drabowsky.

McNally and Drabowsky (62/3 innings) combined for a three-hit, 5-2 victory in Game 1. Palmer's four-hit shutout beat Sandy Koufax 6-0 in Game 2, Bunker had a six-hit shutout to edge Claude Osteen 1-0 in Game 3 and McNally finished it off with a four-hit shutout to outduel Don Drysdale in Game 4. The Tigers' foursome was nearly their equal last week.

"We just know we're all really good," Scherzer said.

Dombrowski said part of the reason for the rotation's success was the way Leyland handled them all season.

"People don't notice this sometimes and they don't say anything, but these guys are strong come postseason time," Dombrowski said. "It's October, and they're strong, and that's part of the way Jim Leyland handles his staff. He doesn't use them on short rest all season long. He watches his pitches, has a good pulse of that."

The Tigers lost to the Cardinals in the '06 Series, and came close last year, losing 4-2 to the Rangers in the 2011 ALCS. Now they're poised to get the job done.

"In 2006, it almost kind of happened and you almost feel like you're going to be there every year," Verlander said. "It was easy. It was a rude awakening the last two years (when) that was not the case. It makes you appreciate it even more."